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January 27, 2012

Pentagon Boosts Overall Spending Despite Short-Term Cuts 
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A new spending plan from the Pentagon would limit pay raises and
institute other cuts to conventional military while escalating
special-operations and increasing the nation’s drone fleet. The
Pentagon’s budget for next year is $525 billion, which is $6 billion
less than this year. But despite plans for $487 billion in cuts over the
next decade, the Defense Department’s base budget — which does
not include the cost of an ongoing war in Afghanistan — is
expected to increase, reaching $567 billion by 2017. Despite the removal
of troops from Iraq, the Pentagon has requested $88.4 billion beyond the
base budget to pay for overseas combat next year. Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta detailed the proposed spending plan at the Pentagon.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta: "Specifically, the department will
request for its base budget $525 billion dollars, in its base budget for
fiscal year FY 13. And by the way, that compares to $531 billion dollars
in fiscal year 2012. And our hope and plan here is to try to rise to 567
billion by fiscal 2017. Make no mistake, the savings we are proposing
will impact all 50 states and many districts across America. This will
be a test of whether reducing the deficit is about talk or about
action."



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